NATIONAL INTEREST AND FOREIGN POLICY: WHY NIGERIA SHOULD INVADE CAMEROON

Abstract

Every modern state has its unique history; Nigeria’s state offers an interesting one. One of the far-reaching consequences of the First World War was that Germany lost most its African colonial territories/interests to France and Britain. For instance, by 1915, the Cameroon was administratively divided into two by the French and British—the larger half going to the French while Britain had the mandate over the south-western part (from Lake Chad down to Duala) included (as a province) the colonial Nigerian territory.Earlier, before the intrusion of European colonizers, traditional communities ruled over themselves, and later were organized into varying form of monarchies. Thus the colonial boundaries in these configurations were not established according to the various indigenous groupings. Grouping nations together in some case and dividing them in others was a common feature as long as it was consisted with the security and economic interest of the colonial powers; emergent postcolonial states also thrive still on economic and political interests and they could further those interest—evenif might lead to further re-delineation of national boundaries to reflect pre-colonial societal ties in culture and political organization. Accordingly, this article adopts a theoretical methodology to articulate a case for Nigeria against the (southern) Cameroon on the ground that it was initially mingled with Nigerian culture before the eventual European partitioning. The arguments for this are that it is in Nigeria’s overall national interest to do so; it is politically expedient; it is fair to other strategic interests—on the national, regional and world stage. The work discovers that it was the ICJ which judgement (2002) formally ceded Bakassi Peninsula (southern Cameroon) to Cameroon. Hence it recommends that Nigeria should(surprisingly) invade the entire Cameroonian state such that the ensuing negotiation/diplomacy would guarantee the occupation of the Peninsula; and that achieving this should form the kernel of her African sub-regional foreign policy.